There may be Rise in cases of brain infections affecting the United States children. Hospitals and public health officials in some areas have documented higher-than-expected numbers of pediatric brain cysts in recent years, often caused by streptococcus; bacteria. Complications remain rare, however, and in some places rate since then returned to baseline.
Abscesses are pockets of pus They are usually caused by an ongoing bacterial infection (pus is a mixture of dead immune cells and germs). In the brain, these cysts are not only a sign of a serious infection But it can cause additional damage by putting pressure on brain tissue or blocking vital blood vessels.
Pediatric brain cysts are rare, but they are found in some areas of the United States I saw what it looks like at recent days. Last week, CNN mentioned The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has begun investigating A A cluster of cases in and around the Las Vegas, Nevada area. In 2022, the state is reported to have seen 18 such cases, well above the average of four. to five year cases. It was the Nevada block First in detail By local health officials at the CDCEpidemic Intelligence Services annual conference last week, and since then, doctors in other states have sounded the alarm about a possible spike in their numbers, too.
“We’ve been impressed by how many of these things we’re seeing now,” Sunil Sood, a pediatric infectious disease specialist at Northwell Health, a health system in New York, told CNN last week.
This isn’t the first time that doctors and health officials have noticed an anecdotal increase in cases of brain infections in children. Oftentimes, they have been linked to streptococcus; Bacteria, a common source of many illnesses, including strep throat. This connection may be important, because many countries, included United StateAnd A rise in the incidence of invasive group A streptococcus infection, another serious but rare complication of this bacterium, has recently been reported. But there are major questions left unanswered about this trend.
Last summer, two separate papers were published in the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report looking at the topic, with different conclusions. one sheet Infectious disease survey Specialists across the US found a likely increase in some forms of intracranial infections through March 2022 another sheet She examined national data provided by children’s hospitals and found a more complex picture. During the first two years of the covid-19 pandemic, they found that these cases declined first below baseline, then increased in 2021 through early 2022, before settling back to baseline by mid-2022. Overall, the researchers didn’t actually find a significant increase in such cases during the study period, compared to before the pandemic.
These results are not necessarily contradictory. The early years of the pandemic saw a significant drop in many other infections. But this infection has since returned Sometimes larger than normal outbreaks were left behind in their first wake. The waning of population immunity may have provided these germs with more fuel to spread when they return, at least temporarily. But as the world returned to normal, this infection recededIt may eventually reach the same level of spread seen in the pre-pandemic era. If this is true, the rare complications it causes may also rise initially before returning to a normal baseline. In Nevada, that may already be the case, with fewer cases reported so far in 2023 than last year.
Nevertheless, these groups are worth investigating, and lessons learned from these investigations can reveal new insights into Infections and the rare complications they cause. Earlier this year, for example, scientists found evidence The mysterious outbreak of unexplained childhood hepatitis seen in the UK and elsewhere last year was actually caused by a combination of genes and a virus not previously linked to human disease.